Posts tagged JoeyVotto at FanHouse

Ken Griffey Jr. arrived to the park last night thinking he was going to play, and when he saw the lineup card without his name on it, he grilled Dusty Baker's nine-year-old son Darren why his dad wasn't playing him. One kidney shot to the ego later, Griffey probably wished he kept his mouth shut. From Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News:

"Why am I not playing tonight, Darren?" asked Griffey.

"Because you can't hit lefthanders," said Darren, son of manager Dusty Baker. "And you're old."

"How old am I?"

"Fifty."

Ouch. Technically Junior is 38, he just stays healthy like a 50 year old. But Darren was right about the lefties: Griffey is hitting just .200 (17-for-85) against them this year. Griffey did redeem himself by hitting a walk-off home run (ahem, off right-hander Matt Capps) after coming into the ninth as a defensive replacement, but Darren's quick wit before the game makes you wonder if Dusty is letting the youngster have some input on the lineup.

Of course, if a nine-year-old is making calls in the dugout, it might also explain why one of the team's biggest bats was trying to bunt with two runners on and no outs in the eighth inning.

The story in Cincinnati today started out as Jon Lieber's first start as a Chicago Cub in just under six years. Only it didn't go so well for Lieber as he fell victim to the small ballpark blues at Great American. He only went two innings while giving up five runs, including four (!) dingers to Joey Votto, Adam Dunn, Paul Bako, and Jerry Hairston Jr. Probably not the major league record that Lieber wanted to tie in his first start back as a Cub, but he's in the record book ... tied for giving up the most home runs in an inning.

But Votto and the Reds weren't done however, as the Reds smacked a total of seven home runs, including two more ding dings in the 5th and 6th innings by Votto, giving him a three HR day. He had a chance at a fourth in the eighth inning against Michael Wuertz, but he grounded to short, leaving the Cincinnati crowd disappointed, but happy overall.

Want more notable notables? Edinson Vólquez went seven shutout innings and struck out ten Cubs, as he went to 5-1 and dropped his ERA to a ridiculous 1.06. So why should the Cubs be ashamed of themselves? Because Vólquez walked six batters to go along with the four hits he gave up, and the Cubs still couldn't score.

When Dusty Baker announced his impending reign of terror, he did so with great authority. He mandated that Joey Votto stop looking at so many pitches (even if they were bad) and he immediately sent top prospect and future of the organization Jay Bruce back down to Triple-A. Understandable, certainly, because Dusty had Corey Patterson on his roster.

Yes, by "understandable", I do in fact mean "certifiably and irrationally stupid". Bruce was the consensus number one prospect in all of baseball in 2007 and seemed nearly assured of the starting centerfield job in Cincy. Anyway, I hate to be overtly optimistic, much less to trust the mad (cow disease ridden?) brain of Mr. Baker, but I think there's a pretty good chance we see Bruce back in a Reds uniform within the next few weeks.

Why? Because Corey Patterson stinks, that's why. Yes, he started off hot, but as my good friend Mr. Greber pointed out in a new series of articles today, so did Chris Shelton. Now, he's batting .183 and not clogging up the bases to the tune of a .254 OBP. Congratulations, everyone. (The insane thing is that he has four home runs. Just weird.)

Bruce, meanwhile, is putting up numbers (.333/.348/.561) with three home runs and four stolen bases in just 16 games at Louisville. The best part, Dusty? Only two walks. That's right. You don't even have to tell him to swing more! Look, the point of all this Dusty-dogging and Patterson-bashing isn't to point out how silly the Reds organization was for signing him to coach the team (not entirely anyway).

The point is to tell you, the fantasy owner, what a steal you could be getting on Jay Bruce right now. The kid is a masher, he's ready for the majors and sooner or later, Dusty is going to have to cave and let him on the field at the major league level. You either need to a) pick him up and stash him now or b) make a play for him from another owner before it's too late. Bruce is the future, and if there's anything the Reds should learn from the way Votto, Johnny Cueto and Edison Volquez are currently playing, it's that the future is now.

I don't understand how it can be a day before the start of the season and a team can not have named a starting first baseman, but that's the situation the Reds are in right now. All spring the debate has been logic vs. Dusty Baker, personified by Joey Votto vs. Scott Hatteberg. When asked by John Fay about the first base situation today, he had this to say:

"(The starting first baseman) is whoever's playing that day. Joey Votto has a great upside," Baker said. "But Hatteberg had a great spring. We'll go with matchups. (The seven spot) is an important spot in the lineup. Adam Dunn had an OK spring. Edwin (Encarnacion) struggled.

Translated that means, "Everyone says that Votto can hit, but his veteranosity quotient is not nearly high enough for me and so Hatteberg is going to play." I love the comment about the "match-ups." Both Votto and Hatteberg hit left-handed and both hit much better against righties than lefties. Does that mean Hatteberg gets most of the starts against righties while Votto hits against lefties, giving Dusty more "evidence" to keep playing Hatteberg? I hope not, but that's where this seems to be headed to me.